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2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Acanthococcus lagerstroemia, an Emerging Potential Threat to Ficus carica

Tuesday, September 19, 2017: 1:30 PM
King's 1 (Hilton Waikoloa Village)
Mengmeng Gu, Texas A&M AgriLife Reseach & Extension, College Station, TX
Haijie Dou, Texas A&M University, El Paso, TX
Erfan Vafaie, Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Extension, Overton
Michael Merchant, Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Extension, Dallas, TX
Zinan Wang, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
Yan Chen, Louisiana State University Agriculture Center & Research Station, Hammond, LA
James A Robbins, University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension, Little Rock, AR
Audio File Recorded Presentation
Crape myrtle bark scale (CMBS), Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae Kuwana, is a devastating new scale pest from Asia causing severe damage on crape myrtles and potentially other significant horticultural crops, including the edible and ornamental landscape fig, Ficus carica L. USDA/APHIS only recognized CMBS as a “new” US record in 2014. However, this exotic pest has been established in north Texas since 2004, and has rapidly spread to 13 states (WA, NM, TX, OK, AR, LA, MS, TN, AL, GA, SC, VA, and NC). In 2016 this pest was confirmed on four more host genera in addition to three native American plant species. An increasing concern is that CMBS will likely continue to spread much further, threatening the utility, aesthetics, and health of crape myrtles and other important horticultural and agricultural crops, including figs, and even native ecosystems. This presentation will introduce the biology, life cycle and management strategies for CMBS. Photo: Acanthococcus lagerstroemia scale.
See more of: Ficus: An Introduction to Its Natural History, Propagation, Selection, and Landscape Management
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